Polluters prevail in the House

The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday to block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from moving to control carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases.

All five of Washington’s Democratic congressmen voted against the legislation, which passed on a 255-172 vote. All four Republican House members from this state supported it.

The Senate rejected similar legislation on Wednesday, and President Obama says he will veto any legislation that blocks efforts to limit emissions of gases that contribute to climate change.

Rep. Fred Upton, R-Michigan, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said: “Left unchecked, EPA’s actions would have a devastating impact on jobs, U.S. competitiveness and domestic energy prices.”

But Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., a member of the energy panel, fought on the House floor to maintain the EPA’s powers under the Clean Air Act.

Inslee has argued that the country must reduce its dependence on foreign oil and “create a clean energy economy that will power our growth and sustain our prosperity during the next century.”

The Sierra Club on Thursday cheered Inslee for “unequivocally standing up to polluters and voting to maintain the EPA’s ability to protect against dangerous carbon pollution.”

The Republican right has taken to raging against the Clean Air Act, signed into law by Republican President Richard Nixon and strengthened under GOP President George H.W. Bush.

“EPA is on a mission to destroy American industry,” declared Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas.

“When regulators, especially regulators at the EPA go to work, they get in a big room and sit around a conference table drinking their lattes and say, ‘Who can we regulate today?’ because that’s what regulators do. Regulators regulate, all on the so-called premise of protecting us from ourselves.”

Inslee has presented a different perspective, arguing that the Northwest is getting an economic jolt as it works to free America from the carbon economy.

“From our research institutions like the University of Washington, Washington State University and Pacific Northwest National Labs, to private companies like Boeing and EnerG2, our public-private partnerships have laid the foundation to capitalize on opportunities to win massive investments in the new clean energy economy,” he argued earlier this month.

“Additionally, our state is also building our electric vehicle infrastructure to put as many as 300,000 electric vehicles on the road over the next decade.

“These and other investments in developing our clean energy economy will generate thousands of good paying jobs now and for the future.”